


New Love

by Smidget



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Eventual A/H, F/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 10:09:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16406420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smidget/pseuds/Smidget
Summary: Set way before the series, but will eventually lead into it. Holly meets a tall (to her), dark, and handsome elf from Atlantis when they send transfers to help the understaffed LEP get by. This is the story of their relationship, and how it impacts everyone throughout the series.





	New Love

**Author's Note:**

> So... this is one of those stories I'm not entirely sure why I wrote it, much less where it came from. The name sucks, and so does the description (namely because I somehow lost the original description). It's mainly romance, Holly/OC, but rest assured, I DO have a plan for it and it will eventually lead into the series. (And eventually become A/H). But not until MUCH later. 
> 
> I had this up before, but I took it down to do some editing/rewrites. In the end, I decided it didn't need as much work as I thought it did, so.. yeah. It's back, with minimal edits thus far. We'll see how it goes, though. No promises I won't spot something later. 
> 
> Anyway! So. Yeah. Something new-ish and definitely different from me. Enjoy!

Buzzt. Buzzt. 

D’Arvit, Holly Short thought, jumping guiltily. It’s going off again? Should I answer it? She stared at her father’s communicator ring as it buzzed around on the desk. She wasn’t supposed to touch it, technically, but her father wasn’t supposed to have taken it off in the first place, let alone left without it on. Someone had tried to call it three times in a row now. She’d left it alone thus far, but it was sorely tempting to answer it and shut whoever was calling up.

Holly made up her mind and stood up, swiping the ring off the desk. It was making her crazy, and if he wasn’t back by now, then he probably still wouldn’t be for the few minutes the call lasted. She swiped her finger over the engravement in the ring and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Holly!” Her godfather’s voice, loud and exceptionally chirrupy, echoed through the ring into her ear. Instantly, she grinned, just as widely as he probably was on the other end. “Answering Dad’s ring again? Naughty girl.”

“He’s in the meeting and it wouldn’t shut up,” Holly said defensively. “Besides, it’s not like it was Root calling. It was just you.”

“Did you know that when you picked up the ring?”

“....no, but-”

She stopped as the centaur laughed. “Relax, Holls. You know I’m playing. And I won’t tell Chris. You’re the one I wanted to talk to anyway.”

Holly smiled and sat back down in her father’s office chair, crossing her legs and reclining into the cushioned seat. “Oh really? So you were trying to get me in trouble?”

“Me? Get you in trouble?” His voice was too high, dripping with fake innocence and ignorance. “Why would I ever do that?”

She giggled. “Shut up, Foaly. What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing big,” Foaly replied, and she could picture the mischievous grin through just his tone. “Just to see my favorite goddaughter again.”

“I’m your only goddaughter.” She spun around in the swivel chair, watching the ceiling above her spin. “And so I say again: what do you want?”

“Fine. You got me. But...you still have to come to my office to find out.” 

Holly hopped up. “Ops?” 

“Yep.”

“Unlock the door for me.”

“Will do.” He disconnected. With no hesitation, so did she, tossing the ring back on to her father’s desk and strolling out of the office.

oOoOoOoOoOo

A few minutes later, Holly knocked on the electronic door of the Ops Booth. It hissed as the pneumatic seal on the door cracked open. She swung the door open and entered, turning around to kick it closed behind her. “I brought coffee!” she announced without looking behind her. “And carrots.”

“Ooh, carrots. Someone is spoiling me again.” 

Holly spun around and mock-scowled at him. “I never said they were for you, donkey-boy.”

Her godfather clomped over and pouted. She jerked the carrots away before he could snatch them from her, smirking. “Not likely. Nice try though.” She offered him a cup of coffee instead. 

The centaur scowled. “Give me my carrots, or I’ll…”

“You’ll what?”

Foaly looked back over her shoulder and grinned. “Or.. I’ll do this.” He reached out and shoved her back a few feet. Holly, who had been expecting him to reach for the carrots again, recoiled her arm instead of her body and was too surprised to fix herself before the blow landed. She squealed and went tumbling backwards. 

However, instead of hitting the floor, she fell back into something else - or, more appropriately, someone else. She collided backwards with a warm body, the momentum shoving them both backwards against the closing door. The was a soft grunt of pain and surprise when they hit the door. The surprise was being ran into. The pain was from the scalding cups of hot coffee that went flying backwards into the door and cracked, spilling all over them.

Holly gasped as warm arms sandwiched her to the man behind her. It was obviously a man - the throaty chuckle he had just released made that quite obvious. Warm coffee ran down her back, and Holly whimpered. 

Foaly was laughing. He’d sat back on his hind legs and wrapped his arms around himself, laughing so hard that tears were running down his cheeks. “That,” he gasped, “Was much funnier than I expected.”

Holly growled and shook off the arms holding her. Not bothering to say “thank you” or even look to see who had caught her, she stomped forward and punched the centaur in the ribs. “You jerk! Now I’m disgusting! And you are so paying me back for those carrots now.”

Foaly just grinned at her. Holly glared back. “Holly?”

She ran a hand through her sticky hair and looked down at herself. So much for the nice white shirt she was wearing. The jeans could be saved, but her shirt was ruined. Sighing, she began unbuttoning it without looking at the centaur. “What now, Foaly?”

He grasped her shoulders and spun her around. “Say hello to Riley.” He snickered and turned away.

Holly huffed and wadded up her nasty shirt, throwing it in the trash can beside Root’s desk. She stopped by the can and looked up at the man who had caught her - Riley - and said tersely, “Hi.”

Riley smirked at her. He looked mildly amused. His own collared midnight blue shirt was splattered down the front with coffee, and his dark hair hung in fat, wet strands, plastered to his forehead. “Hello, Holly,” he said politely. 

Goosebumps rose up on her arms, whether from him or the fact Holly was now only wearing a tanktop, she didn’t know. Her expression softened a fraction and she shuddered and turned away, rubbing the caramel-colored flesh of her own exposed upper arms. She couldn’t help it that the first thing that popped into her head on the sight of him was quite literally a “yum”. It wasn’t her fault. It was her unbalanced hormones. Damn puberty. 

Exactly, the logical side of her reasoned. 

Yeah, right, scoffed her heart. 

Shut up, she thought to herself, then scurried over to Foaly, blushing red.

“Who is he?” she hissed at her godfather. 

Foaly smirked, and, just a bit too loudly, asked, “Who is he, Holly? Why? Are you… interested?”

Holly’s mouth opened and closed several times. She glared at her godfather, but it wasn’t nearly convincing enough, what with her face all flushed and the fact that she was way more flustered than she had any right to be. “What-I… I did not say that-”

“You didn’t have to. Your face says it all.” He patted her head. “I understand the fascination, of course - just look at him - but he may be a old for you, dearest.” 

“Old?” For the first time since the awkward hello, the male spoke up. He grinned slightly. “Now, I may certainly be older than her, but exactly how old do you think I am?”

Holly and Foaly looked at each other, then at Riley, then back again. In sync, they both said the estimated numbers:

“122.”

“210.”

Riley laughed. “I can tell you two know each other well. But you’re both wrong nonetheless. I’m 132.” He levelled Holly with a serious, but curious look. His eyes were a dark brown, the color of liquid dark chocolate. “And you?”

Holly found herself still lost in his eyes. “71,” she breathed. 

Riley smirked, noticing her preoccupation, but not saying a word. “It certainly is in age gap, although not an insurmountable one. I’ve met many people with higher. It’s not uncommon, especially where I came from.” 

She shook herself out of her daze. “You… came from… You’re one of the Atlantis transfers?”

He nodded. “I arrived late yesterday. Today’s my first day here.” He looked rather embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head. “Technically, I’m supposed to be a part of the board meeting they’re having right now - only I couldn’t figure out where the room was. I only meant to stop in for directions. This is the bottom floor, is it not?”

Foaly shook his head. “We’re ground. Basement is bottom.” He put a hand on the small of Holly’s back and pushed her a few steps forward, much gentler this time than before. “Holly can show you.”

“What?” Holly spun around to look at him. “No, no I can’t. I wasn’t even supposed to leave the office, and I don’t know where the meeting is anyway.”

“Bottom floor. Second conference room.” He pointed to Riley. “If he’s really supposed to be there he’ll have a key.”

“And if he’s not?”

“I am.” He slid a key card from his pocket and held it up for her to see. “It’s legit too,” he added sarcastically. “Promise.”

"Fine," Holly said flatly. But she then she stuck her hand out to Foaly. "But I still want my coffee, so pay up. You owe me for the carrots anyway." 

Grumbling, the centaur grabbed a handful of change from the one of the drawers in a nearby cabinet and dropped it in her open palm. "There. Get the Atlantean over there one too." He jabbed his thumb at Riley. 

Holly frowned. "I'm not his maid just because you made me spill coffee on him. I'll pay for it, but he'll get his own." Conspicuously, she brushed a hand over his chest as she passed by. His body felt warm and solid beneath the shirt. Shuddering once, she turned away and marched to the door. "Come on, newbie. Let's get you to your meeting."

oOoOoOoOoOo

“Stairs are this way,” Holly told him without looking over her shoulder. “But we’re going this way first, because we’re stopping for coffee.” She started in the opposite direction that she had pointed to, heading for the break room where the coffee stand was. Riley looked mildly amused again, but he followed her silently. 

Holly used her key to unlock the door to the break room for the second time that morning (much to her annoyance) and tossed open the door. She didn’t bother holding it open, knowing he’d be right behind her, just moved straight over to the coffee machine in the corner and grabbed a styrofoam cup. “Get a cup if you want it. This one is regular-” she pointed at the machine she just got hers from, “-and the other is decaf.” 

“Definitely not decaf,” he muttered. “I don’t know how people drink it. Isn’t the whole point of coffee the caffeine it provides?”

Holly smirked at him over her shoulder, barely paying attention to the amount of creamer she put in her coffee. “Exactly my line of thinking. I hate decaf - although don’t tell my Dad that. He thinks I should stick to it. I do, when I’m around him, but otherwise, I need my caffeine fix.”

Riley moved over beside her and grabbed a couple of pumpkin-flavored creamers. “You’re addicted to caffeine too? Maybe we are meant for each other,” he said teasingly, nudging her shoulder. “I’m a grouch without mine.”

“You don’t seem like a grouch.” She snapped a lid onto hers and turned to watch him finish preparing his, taking a small sip. She’d purposefully ignored his joking flirtations. She wasn’t sure if he was serious, and even if he was, she wasn’t sure if she liked him quite enough to go out with him after only a few minutes conversation. 

“I had two cups before I got here,” he chuckled. “Otherwise, I would be a mess.” He snapped a lid on his and turned to her. “Are we ready?”

“I believe so. Although no one is ever ready to face BeetRoot.” With that, she   
turned away, heading for the door again. Riley followed her immediately, not wanting to get left behind.

The silence on the way down was fairly comfortable, just barely tinged with awkwardness from the earlier incident and his still purposely ignored flirting. Holly lead him down to the basement quickly and quietly, hoping that she would not get stuck in the meeting after dropping him off. And that her father didn’t see her. She wasn’t even supposed to be in this part of Plaza, by all rights, but they turned a blind eye since she was a few years into the Academy and her father was a Major. She’d grown up here whether they liked it or not, so they technically couldn’t kick her out. 

“Room One… Here’s Two,” Holly muttered. She stopped in front of the closed door and took a step back. “This is your room. I’m sure they’ve noticed you were missing by now.” 

“I’m sure they have.” He shrugged and leaned on the wall next to her. “And yet, strangely, I don’t mind. Getting to speak with you and that centaur friend of yours was definitely worth getting coffee dumped on me and being late for my meeting.” He smiled at her, eyes glinting. “Don’t you agree?”

Flushing red, Holly turned away. It was time to put an end to this flirtatiousness. She didn’t want to put any unrealistic ideas into his head. “Look, Riley… you do seem sweet and all, but I don’t look to get into relationships that I know will end badly. And seeing as how you’re one of the transfers and you’ll only be here temporarily, I know it will end badly, because I can’t do long distance.” 

Shaking his head, he placed a hand lightly on her shoulder and leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “Our definitions of temporary must be different, Holly, because I’m here on loan for a year at least. It’s temporary now, but they’re not going to be looking to send most of us back. I’ll likely end up signing on to be a permanent one here in Haven.” He paused. “Besides, I’m not proposing anything big. I’m just asking for permission to see you again. Not even necessarily a date. Just a visit.”

Holly looked down at her feet and sighed. Why did that sound so sorely tempting? She’d known the guy for all of a half hour, and yet she was tempted then and there to give him permission to take her out. Come on, Holly, get your head together, she scolded herself. For all you know he’s a freak or a rapist. Gather some more information before you do anything stupid. 

“Fine,” Holly finally said, making sure to keep her voice level, not wanting to sound - honestly, not wanting to feel - too excited about the whole thing. “You want to see me again? Go back to the office you were in when I dumped coffee all over us and tell Foaly to call me. We’ll meet up and I’ll give you a tour.” Or something, she added mentally. After all, she wasn’t quite sure what they were doing with the newbies in the meeting. He might get one from them. 

Riley smiled slightly. “Sounds good. I’ll be needing to find my way around this place somehow, anyway.” The hand on her shoulder lifted and moved to her face. He brushed his knuckles down her cheek lightly, then withdrew his hand. “I’ll see you soon, then,” he told her softly.

He turned around and unlocked the door. For a second after it opened, Holly held still, listening to the hubbub inside the room. Vaguely, she thought she could pick out her father’s voice from the mix. Riley looked at her and smiled one more time, then disappeared inside, drawing the door closed behind him. 

Holly stared at the closed door for a minute, letting that whole encounter sink into her brain for a long second. A slow smile crept onto her face. Then it went from a smile to a wide grin, and she turned on her heel and bolted back up the stairs towards Ops.

**Author's Note:**

> Side note: the rating might go up from M to E. I haven't decided yet. Maybe some feedback on that, when we get there? And, I am aware that there's some inconsistencies with what the series says originally, but I think it fits better this why, at least in my head. Anyway, if Colfer can't keep stuff straight himself, I think we're entitled to be able to change some things to suit us. 
> 
> Also, any thoughts? Please tell me what you think! I know Holly/OC isn't exactly the biggest pairing for this fandom, and I surprised even myself with it, but hey... like I said, new and different, right? 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think and if anyone is interested in this story! Like I said, there is a plan. It's just coming later. I haven't decided if I'm going to split before-books-start and into-books into two different parts or not, but we'll see when we get there. If we get there... <3


End file.
